Mel Stabin's workshop

This is an old church, now Bed and Breakfast in Scotland. Very charming little place. We had just over 2 hours in Monday's workshop to paint from a photo we brought, or use on of Mel's. I chose to use my own. Forty five minutes drawing time and 1-1/2 hours of painting. Fun to work that fast. We were supposed to paint outside today in the Indian Canyons, but I had to work on getting my PaintAmerica art framed, so took the day off. Glad I did. It's pouring. I'll get back at it tomorrow at a nature park with lots of desert flora and fauna. We even have some camels and zebras. Should be a fun day tomorrow.

Challenge

no time here with all these pears...so decided to pull up something very old....very very old!!! It is not even a very good picture as it is that old! Ha! But it shows how I have loved reflections for the last 20 years...and I still do!

Crystal in Blue

This month's challenge was pretty difficult for me as there are just so many things that I truly love. I decided to cheat a whole bunch here and post two things I really love (my fabulous Nikko blue hydrangeas and by gorgeous crystal bowl) and I'll have to admit that this is not a new painting either. However, there are some value changes I can see that need to be made and I keep putting them off. A good artist friend once told me that if I couldn't make up my mind on a particular modification, put the brush down and don't do anything. So, I'm still not calling this one finished. This is 15x22, Arches 140# CP and a rather limited palette of cobalt, UMB, turquoise, quin magenta, quin burnt orange, new gamboge, and perm rose.

Final on Party Pear

I am seeing these pictures as square and it is not...it is 22 x 17  so I am going to try posting it and see if it still appears square...Diane is trying to help me with this...perhaps it is just my computer but then what the heck do I do!? We will see what this shows up as and you tell me if you see square or what!

Things We Love

These Bleeding Hearts, bloom in my garden in the spring, and they seemed just right for our February challenge. The flowers themselves are so sweet and delicate and I love them and love to garden!

This is one of the first watercolors that I painted when I was just starting out in W in 1994. It measures roughly 17" x 13" on 140 lb cold pressed.

Gardening seems so far off .....today we are in a winter storm warning and are due to get up to 15" of snow and 40 mph winds !!! But.....I will be snug in my studio working on my new acrylic painting. :-)

Happy Valentines Day Pretty Ladies!

OMG I just got two watercolors accepted in Paint America Top 100

"Heaven is a '57" and "Autumn Delights" have BOTH been accepted into Paint America top 100 Exhibition. I'm on the floor. Somebody come pick me up! The letter arrived this afternoon and in it they warn that I should expect media focus and interviews and I should be prepared. Oh my goodness. I'm in shock. You can read about the Exhibition at their website

Signs of Spring

16x20 oil of a blue basket of pink silk geraniums in my old white wicker chair. I love painting these subjects. This one is SOLD. I've also done this same theme with watercolor.

February Challenge: Things We Love

Did I mention that I love my IPhone??!!! For this month's challenge, I knew immediately what I wanted to paint. Now, this image isn't a good one b/c I took it at night inside the studio so its not as crisp as it could be. But it is full of symbolism! I put 52 pieces of mail because this is my 52nd year and I used the number 8 because it is a symbol of perfection and balance in infinity, and is the expression of the totality of the universe in Asia. The time is set at 6:03 am because I was born in the morning of June 3rd. And the text message symbol has "hi granny" in it because I love getting texts from my granddaughter. Besides my favorite applications (Facebook, Movies, Urbanspoon, Bookworm) I've put symbols for other things I love in my life... gourmet food, my "tunes", Mother Earth, Cyclone (my cat), daily painting, and jewels! I also put an ap for Artcolony using the blogspot symbol and put a paintbrush behind the B. I've added an ap for "Tella-vision"... my family. My grandkids called my mom and dad paw-paw and maw-maw "Tella". I used a take-off of my family's coffee business for the logo. I also have "NOLA-Tonio Figs" to represent my husband's family, the Figueroas.. who live in New Orelans and San Antonio areas. Of course the fleur d'lis is a symbol of my home state (GO SAINTS I CAN'T BELIEVE WE WON!!!!) and the family was living in New Orleans when Katrina hit. So it is now a symbol of renewal for us as well. "B&T Network" represents my daughters, Brandi and Tarah, who are as different as night and day, yet are fiercely loyal to each other. I used an image of a lunar eclipse of the sun for their symbol. And of course, I can't forget "Nando Words" which represent the many poems my husband has written for me.

Tripod

12x18 watercolor on Canson Montval 140 lb block, cold press, painted last night. This is Jeanette's kitty from her photo on WetCanvas! used with permission. Tripod only has 3 legs but don't know which one is missing. Such a sweet puddy tat taking his bath. No masking fluid was used just AJ Copper Kettle, Harvest Wheat, Gamboge, Midnight Blue, UB, Permanent Rose, Periwinkle Blue.

Party Pear Continued

Here is where Party Pear is at. I have been experimenting as the plate this was on was a gold greenish odd thing with a patina and I am not sure I am quite getting it but trying.  The oddest thing is when I rotated it in photoshop it ended up square which it is not...I tried several different ways....so if someone can tell me what I am doing wrong I sure would love to know! Ha! I am struggling with all the reflections...going mad might be another way to look at it! Ha! But closing the gap...time to let it rest...tomorrow I will work on a different one.

Title?

Just finished my newest painting, 20x28 inch watercolor.

Do you have any title suggestions for me?

Eldorado finally finished

"Eldorado" watercolor by Diane Morgan 17 x 21" on 300# Arches cold press. This is one of several classic car paintings I will be featuring at the Concours d'Elegance Classic Car show on Feburary 28th. You can read about it on their website. Seems like its been so difficult lately to squeeze in painting time. I have so many pieces in my head that are dying to be painted. After next week's 5-day Mel Stabin workshop I should be able to get back to my list of wanna-be's.

Purple Funyuns

How does a pile of purple figs turn into a pile of purple onions? Answer: Let me paint them. Ha! This has been the most fun I've had with a "junk" painting in a while. This started as figs until my little grandson told me that he liked my purple onions. That should have been my first clue that this wasn't going to work. Next, I fattened some figs up into onions, gave some some green tops that had been twisted off, drew some more in and continued. What was originally horizontal turned into a vertical piece to boot the longer I painted. Kay came up with the name of this folly, and what she doesn't know is that when she comes to Noonday for her workshop this spring, she's going to "recover" this piece to show us how to turn a failed painting into an acceptable painting. This should be a fun challenge. This is llx15 and has a one inch or so crop all sides that doesn't show on the photo. Good luck, Kay!

I really love all birds and when we found this hummingbird nest in our garden we were so excited. We took a picture when they were almost to big for the beautiful little nest and I really enjoyed painting it.